Fried Rice

We all enjoy this at our house and I wanted to save it as I feel it's kid friendly.

Ingredients:
3 C uncooked rice
3-4 carrots
5-6 eggs
ham/bacon, cooked
peas
1 section broccoli
onion/green onion
green beans
cabbage
any other vegetable needing to be used up
salt and pepper
ginger (ground or fresh)
garlic salt
soy sauce
vegetable oil

Directions:

Cook rice in rice cooker with 6 C of water with a dash of salt.

In the meantime start cooking carrots and onion if not using green onion in a bit of vegetable oil. Gradually add other vegetables depending on how long they'll take to cook and soften until you have a good amount. Add meat.

In a separate pan scramble eggs and break into small chunks.

Once rice is cooked you can add it to the vegetables and mix. Add the eggs and mix. Then upon preference mix in salt and pepper, garlic salt, ginger, soy sauce, etc. as desired to taste.

Serve.

Herbed Naan & 5 Min. Bread Dough

from The Cafe Sucre Farine

 I made the dough yesterday and the naan bread today to go with Lentil Soup. Was yummy together. I think mine turned out a little thicker than pictured above and I made my balls a little smaller. I also sprinkled just a little salt on them as they were cooking. Very easy and prefer this method over the last as the last caused me to crack and thus break my pizza stone. Definitely want to try more with the 5 minute dough as it really did take only 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

2¾ cups hot water, 110-115˚F

1½ tablespoons granulated yeast

1 tablespoon sea salt

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

6½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Ingredients for the naan:

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup finely chopped fresh herbs, I like to use 1/2 cilantro and 1/2 Italian parsley, but other herbs would also be good*

sea salt

Directions for the dough

1. Mix the water, yeast and sugar in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container. Stir and let sit till yeast is bubbly. Stir in olive oil and sea salt.

2. Mix in the flour with a large wooden spoon or a heavy duty large whisk till all flour is incorporated.

3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and colapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 3-4 days.

Directions for the naan:

1. Combine oil and herbs in a small bowl.

2. When you're ready to make the naans, remove dough from refrigerator. Liberally sprinkle flour on a work surface. With a large spoon, scoop up 10 lumps of dough about the size of a small apple. Refrigerate remaining dough for another use (check these out).

3. Roll dough balls in flour to coat all surfaces, then flatten each with the palm of your hand. With a rolling pin, roll dough into circles (don't worry, they don't have to be precise circles, real naans aren't supposed to be perfectly round) about 8 inches in diameter. Keep work surface well dusted with flour to prevent sticking. Stack rolled dough circles on a platter, separating them with parchment or waxed paper.

4. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Coat surface lightly with olive oil. Place one dough circle in heat pan. Brush top surface with herb/oil mixture. If bubbles begin to form in dough just flatten them with your brush. This will give your finished naan lots of interesting texture. Continue cooking until bottom side is a light golden brown.

5. Flip naan to other side and brush top side lightly with herb/oil mixture. Continue to cook until second side is light golden brown, then flip one more time and cook for another 20 to 30 seconds. Remove naan to a plate and sprinkle with sea salt. Repeat process with other dough circles, stacking them on a plate, separating each one with paper towels.

Notes:

If using fresh sage or rosemary cut back on the amount by half, as these are much stronger tasting herbs.

Yield: 10 large naan

Adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

Originally from All Recipes

 

 

Original recipe makes 1 frosting for 1 cake. Upon reading the comments and knowing I wanted a strong chocolate flavor, I did 1 C cocoa powder and then added half the powdered sugar and sifted. Once I added the butter and milk and had mixed it (I forgot the vanilla) and added more powdered sugar as needed. This was a very semi-sweet chocolate flavor as a result. It was good on confetti cookies. Next time I would do less cocoa powder just to experiment I think.

 

Ingredients: 

• 2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons butter

• 5 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar.